Lottery operators in Switzerland and Latvia face renewed media scrutiny

Lottery operators in Switzerland and Latvia face renewed media scrutiny over their operations.  While Loterie Romande faces questions over alleged lobbying and transparency, Latvijas Loto is under the spotlight for benefiting from fewer restrictions than private gambling operators.

But how serious are these allegations?

Swiss Loterie Romande faces questions over alleged lobbying practices

In Switzerland, Loterie Romande is once again under fire from local media, more specifically, Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), this time for reportedly giving gifts to parliamentarians. RTS framed this as a ''lucrative form of lobbying.''

Loterie Romande is the official lottery operator for the French-speaking region of Switzerland and holds a monopoly on lotteries and certain types of sports betting in the area.

Apparently, elected officials from French-speaking Switzerland received invitations from the operator to VIP events such as evenings at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

RTS also claims that in 2018, during the voting campaign for the gambling law, the operator offered a helicopter trip to federal elected officials during the Patrouille des Glaciers. This event is a biennial high-alpine ski mountaineering race in the Swiss Alps organised by the Swiss Army.

Loterie Romande Director Jean-Luc Moner-Banet dismissed these allegations, noting that invitations were ‘’absolutely not gifts."

Moner-Banet added: "Our mission is to fund public services, including cultural activities, but also sports, social action, heritage, research and education. It is therefore very useful that once a year, on the occasion of the Montreux Jazz Festival, we can experience this with our stakeholders."

RTS further highlights that a 2025 proposal by Swiss parliamentarian Jessica Jaccoud to replace lottery retailers' sales-based commissions with fixed payments was rejected 127–63. She argued the change would better support responsible gambling, but noted that political support was weakened by sports and cultural organisations' financial dependence on Loterie Romande.

Loterie Romande's responsible gambling programme relies on 2,350 retail outlets to promote prevention, while outlets earn sales-based commissions. According to Jaccoud, this standard-practice system, present in many industries beyond gambling, creates a conflict of interest, as discouraging excessive gambling can reduce their income.

Youth protection and transparency also under scrutiny

Beyond "gift-giving" and commission rates, Loterie Romande prevoiusly faced scrutiny over delays in publishing a report on minors’ access to sports betting. Regulator Gespa eventually published the results of mystery shopping checks, which revealed shortcomings in youth protection measures. Still, the regulator noted that while indicative of potential issues, the study had a limited sample size and that the results cannot be generalised.

Furthermore, the tension between RTS and Loterie Romande goes back years. In April, the Federal Supreme Court rejected Loterie Romande's appeal in a nearly seven-year legal dispute over its refusal to disclose the locations of video lottery terminals to RTS.

Loterie Romande opposes disclosing this information due to operational and regulatory concerns.

Latvia’s state lottery faces media questions over regulatory privileges

Latvia’s public broadcaster LSM has published an investigation examining the regulatory treatment, commercial practices and player protection measures of state-owned lottery operator Latvijas Loto, highlighting differences between the company and privately operated gambling businesses.

The investigation, conducted by LTV’s Aizliegtais paņēmiens programme, found that Latvijas Loto benefits from fewer restrictions than private gambling operators, despite offering 93 lottery products, including instant-win games and online lotteries.

While private casinos and betting operators face restrictions on advertising, player access and minimum age requirements, Latvijas Loto can advertise its products and sell lottery tickets through approximately 1,200 retail locations.

Questions were also raised about potential regulatory conflicts, as the Ministry of Finance owns the company, receives its dividends, oversees industry legislation and supervises the regulatory authority responsible for gambling.

On responsible gambling, the investigation highlighted the limited scope of player protection measures, noting that online spending limits are optional and that no equivalent limits apply to tickets purchased through retail outlets.

Still, the media acknowledged that calls to gambling support services specifically related to lotteries are relatively rare.

The Latvian Association of Licensed Gambling has criticised Latvijas Loto’s Sporto visi promotion, arguing that its involvement with schools and children normalises gambling and promotes the lottery brand among minors.